Waiting for My Time to Come

It is a warm summer evening, and the fog is so thick, you could eat it with a spoon. Not so within the "Hostess of Fertility", where a multi-racial, all-female staff is ready to serve newbie adventurers and seasoned veterans alike.

DosBox, probably still registering on the newbie scale, has found himself at a table NOT QUITE in the corner (that one is always taken by the brooding protagonist) and has ordered "one of everything".

The rock gnome is enjoying himself on the various types of foods, but he's been eyeing the "Pizza" for quite a bit. It just doesn't look as good as Asuna's and he's not particularly willing to try it...

    In the interest of sticking out as much as possible, it seems, Asuna is here. But she's not alone. She's brought a child with her. A little Lander girl is holding her hand. That... draws some arched eyebrows and a flurry of whispers follow as Asuna looks for a table. Somehow the Flash doesn't even notice the stir she's causing.

    "They won't have pizza like at home, but I bet they have something you'll like. There's a lot of good food in the world."

    The child is a bit wide-eyed, never having seen so many adventurers in one place before. It is Taka, though, that sees Dosbox first. "Oh. It's a gnome, Asa!" She does not point. That's impolite. But she is excited. She met a few gnomes back home, in Eastal. They were always doing interesting things.

Not too long after Asuna and child enter, so does Thalia! The cheerful Spriggan would be fluttering if her wings worked like they should, but instead she's just bouncy. She flounces to an empty table and plops herself down, ordering something hearty, like a stew, and a pot of tea.

While she waits, she takes a look around the room, first seeing Dosbox and giving a wave to the Gnome who she tols a secret to the other day. Then violet eyes land on Asuna and the child, which just makes her tilt her head in confusion. She still waves though. She will remember that food forever.

Dosbox is, in fact, a gnome. Not just any gnome, but a gnome that knows the person whose hand the little girl is holding. In fact, he notices the bouncy spriggan too, who he also knows. He looks back and forth between the two of them and the one of her, and uses both hands to wave. "Thalia! Asuna! Tiny one who I haven't met yet! Hi! You guys want to... uh... help me finish this food? I already paid for it, but I think I ordered too much..." He laughs nervously. There's a LOT of food.

    Taka is paying a lot of attention, really. The little Lander girl is focused. She waves back at Thalia. There's a cute little smile, too. Almost on top of the previous comment, she adds, "Asa, that pretty Spriggan is waving at us. Is she a friend? Is she nice like Uta? Are all Spriggans nice?" Cause that's so different than what other people told her about them!

    Asuna tries to keep up. She really does. She was just about to order when Taka is mentioning gnomes and spriggans (and tigers, oh my!) She responds, like so many adults do to children, with something truly insightful.

    "Hmm?"

    A gentle pull on her hand to get attention does the trick. Taka has figured out how to get Asuna to pay attention. "What's that, Taka? Oh! A gnome? A spriggan?" Her eyes, turned down to look at Taka, rise. "Oh. Dossy! Thalia! Wow. Small world."

    The Flash tilts her head. "Dossy, wow, that is a lot of food!" She looks to Thalia, then to Taka, and finally back to the gnome. She will head his way. "Taka, you can meet some more friends of mine! This is Dosbox and this is Thalia." Headnods in the proper direction. It wouldn't do for Taka to get names backwards.

Dosbox looks at the little girl named Taka, who is taller than him. Yeah, he won't get up from the chair. Then no one will notice. "Uh, nice to meet you Taka. I... Uh..." He looks to Asuna, then Taka, then Asuna, then Taka again, "Ah, how do you know each other...?" DosBox is as awkward about this question as he is about everything. 11.

Thalia, being a very friendly sort (and one who likes to eat), will never turn down free food. "Sure, Dossy! Not sure why you ordered so much, but, well, who am I to turn down hospitality?"

She relocates, possibly to the chagrin of the serving staff. She smiles at the child warmly. She's never really interacted with kids too much in life, either real or in here, but smiling makes everyone at ease.

"I'm never surprised when I run into people I know anymore, though I am surprised to see you with a little one, Asuna!"

    Asuna helps Taka into a seat, then settles in herself, pulling the chairs a bit closer. The protective posture is kinda obvious.

    "I'm looking after Taka now," Asuna explains. "There was.. a problem." She will not go into the details. Taka shows a bit of distress, but seems to have learned to distract herself from the topic. For instance, by focusing on someone else.

    In this case, she's sitting nearest to Thalia. And Thalia is interesting! "You are a spriggan," she says quietly, as if it were potentially a rude thing to point out. "But you seem very nice. I think I was told things wrong. Cause I have met two Spriggans and you always are very nice."

    Asuna reaches out, not absently, but almost automatically stroking Taka's hair. "We're running some errands before we go back home. Well, we were. And I promised we'd ride Tomoe for a bit. And there was some kind of big conversation I was supposed to have with one of the Knights of the Blood, though that was obviously not very important. He just met me for a minute and blew me off. Weirdo."

    Back to the more immediate question, though. "Dossy, you going to share just what all this food is about? Were you looking to host a party?" She playfully gasps. "And you didn't even invite me!"

Dosbox smiles nervously. "Well, this... Uh... Wasn't really a party... Uh..." Y'all can almost HEAR the gears shifting in his head. "...that I wanted to advertise or anything. It was going to be a spontaneous thing like... Food's just ordered! The person who gets here first gets all you can eat! or something like that. But now you lot are here, so I can skip that part. Yeah." Pretty sure not even the little girl will believe this one. DosBox is a terrible liar.

Thalia listens to Asuna's explanation and doesn't pry. Especially when the child seems upset about it. She knows from tragedy, and won't ask questions. "That's very kind of you. She's adorable."

She leans down just a bit to get more on Taka's level as questions are asked. "My people did a lot of bad stuff, but we're not all like that. Adventurers like me are generally pretty decent people, but you should always listen to Asuna's instincts."

    Asuna gives Dossy a look, but she's not going to push him on that explanation. "Well, it's just good luck that I decided to eat out tonight instead of cooking. Besides, Klein is busy, so it was a good chance to show Taka around a bit more."

    Asuna smiles at Thalia and nods, "I lo.." A pause. Love? There's a moment's thought. Well, if they will think she's weird or bad for how she feels, then they are no friends of hers, right? "I love this little girl."

    That word goes right past Taka, who is so focused on every. last. thing. Thalia. says. "Wow. Adventurers really are amazing! Can you fly? Uta can't fly. But she said if you touch steam from a pot it's just like touching a cloud. She's very wise."

    Asuna focuses her attention on plates. And on the food. Dossy has quite a spread here, and she picks a few bits of each item to set on a plate for Taka.

    "I have to say, Dossy, you do know your way around a menu."

Dosbox smiles sheepishly to Asuna, "I mean, I just ordered one of everything, really. Uh..." He looks over at the 'Pizza' and points, "Asuna, do you know what that is?" DosBox heard the waitress say it was a pizza when she set it down. He described to her what a pizza WAS the best he could, and they produced something that was almost, but not quite, absolutely nothing like pizza.

For a moment, when Asuna says she loves the kid, Thalia goes all wibbly. It's so -cute- and -wholesome-! She loves it. "You're a very good person, Asuna. I admire your compassion."

Of course, she can't stay in that mode long, there is a child interrogating her! "I wish I could fly. A thing happened and made it so we can't anymore, and I don't like it," she answers truthfully. "I've never met Uta, but she sounds pretty smart!"

    Asuna laughs at the explanation. "That does tend to give you a lot of pick from. We have to split the tab on this, though. This had to cost you quite a bit." She looks at the food that Dossy directs her to and smiles. "It's a mystery, huh? Well, we have baked dough that seems to be very much like a proper bread. It has risen nicely. You have a layer of crushed tomato and on that, cheese and... hm. Is that ground grunty?"

    She cuts a piece for herself, though. She's always curious and eager to learn more. Her expression at the flavor isn't disapproving, either. She's appreciative.

    "It's a very different take on the ingredients. I didn't know they were getting so creative here! I should come more often. This is really unique. It's not pizza, it's like... not a deconstruction. It's imagination."

    Taka likes talking to Thalia. But she's also a bit hungry. So she will sneak a bite when Thalia is talking to Asuna. She notices and attempts to copy Asuna's expression. It's more funny than accurate, and the Lander isn't trying the pizza.

    Back to the topic, though, with Thalia! "That doesn't seem very fair. You should get to fly! Adventurers will fix that, right? And then maybe we can fly and touch clouds!"

    Asuna and a little Lander girl (Taka) are sitting with Thalia and Dosbox at a near-corner table. With, quite literally, one of /everything/ on the table. And no doubt room for more to join!

    Asuna blushes at Thalia's compliment. She is kinda.. not great at accepting those really meaningful compliments that make her feel good inside. They force her to confront emotions that confuse and scare her! "Thank you, Thalia. But, honestly... wouldn't everyone feel the same way?"

Dosbox shakes his head. "I mean, I am not saying I would have just left her there or anything, but... Like... Well, if I were in your position, and I had a place of residence, I would have, but I don't think the adventurer's life is really made for kids that young, is it?" He looks at Asuna through squinted eyes, "You have a house, right?

"I ... I'm not sure," the Spriggan answers Taka. "I think we're trying, but we just don't know enough on how to fix it. I wish we could, though. I hope we can."

Maybe she won't fly that high, though.

Asuna's question makes her pause though. She nods slightly at Dossy. "Yeah. I'm not ... stable enough here to have that kind of resposibility. I don't even have a Peko! I sleep where I can, I only eat good food when I'm in a place that has it. I couldn't do it."

    "I have a place in Mac Anu, and Klein's house is in Tolbana. We kinda..." She smiles in a mix of silly, embarrassed, and happy as she explains, "Stay there, mostly. She has a bedroom of her own there."

    Taka is half-listening to Asuna's side of the conversation. It's about boring adult stuff, mostly. "I hope you can fly, too! It's not fair that you can't."

    But her attention does get derailed by the mention of her own room. Which draws an immediate comment, "It's HUGE!" She adds quickly, "I have toys there."

    Since that important part is said, she is going to get back to eating. She's hungry. All this being a child business is hard work, after all. And the food is very good.

    Asuna picks up the conversation side of things, eating here and there along the way. "So I obviously won't take her to dungeons or anything. Besides, thanks to The Links, there are safe places in every Root City now. It's like day care, but with way better hours."

    Thalia's comments get the Flash laughing. Okay, she's /giggling/. Which is just weird, honestly. The Flash does /not/ giggle!

    "A peko? Really? They are pretty easy, honestly. I can show you how to look after one, if you like. Way easier than monster handling, I promise! Peko's rarely break free and terrorize the local population."

Dosbox nods slowly. "Yes, dungeon delving is less wise than asking me for fashion advice. Did you know I went on a MONTH LONG ROAD TRIP because that's just how bad my fashion was?" He nods a couple of times, "Another bad idea would be to put me in charge of ANY life not adventurer related. I can support and all, but no no. I could not care for a child. I mean, look at how cute she is. Protec, you know?

The Spriggan lets the child eat. Food is important to children, even Lander ones. Though the thought crosses her mind, do Lander children grow, or are they eternally young? She forces that thought away. It's not a good one and it's not one she will ever bring up.

At least Dossy is good at whiplashing the mood. "A -month-? To get new clothes? It doesn't take that long to travel!"

    Asuna nods to Dosbox, not quite getting where he is going with this. But the fashion thing is, well, a bit baffling. "Dossy, you... are dressed the same though, right?"

    Then to Thalia, she nods in agreement. "Hard to imagine just how many wrong turns it would take. I mean, you can get from one end of Yamato to the other in a day or two, if you travel right."

    Taka is pleased as can be with the conversation going away from her for now. Thalia understands her. Spriggan Adventurers, in this little Lander's mind, are pretty neat. Adventurer cooking is neat, too.

    One thing that can be said about this girl is that she is not a picky eater. She was given a bit of everything by Asuna and she is eating it all. There is this moment where the plate approaches emptiness, though, and Asuna just automatically starts to fill it with seconds. That Asuna has strategically picked the items with the most vegetables just demonstrates her culinary talents.

Dosbox laughs, "I mean, I am here for an appointment. I mean, you were there when the Road Trip STARTED, Asuna. I only got here, like... a day or two ago. And... Now that I think about it, I don't think I actually know when the appointment IS. I should probably... Uh... Ask."

Gwen had to be careful about her orders here to not get menu food but the pace has slowed down in the end so long as she pays well she'll get actually worth while food. She's still doing her magic thing sure but she needed a break so she's going to eat out, she trots in wearing a Magic knight outfit. ( OOC https://i.imgur.com/DSsOOi6.jpg ) She did not expect to see many people she knew here other than it's staff.

"Oh hello! Asuna! Dosbox!"

Dosbox notes that Gwen has arrived at the precise right time, "Oh, hi. We were just talking about you. All good things. Well, I mean, we hadn't gotten to talking about you yet. I was about to. Because I forgot to ask. Ah... When exactly is my appointment? Ha ha!

    "Who is the appointment with, Dossy? I mean, since then I've fought a raid, rescued a child, adopted the child, moved in with my boyfriend, broke my old rapier, and I'm almost done with the replacement."

    Asuna is always rather surprised how Dosbox gets in these crazy situations. He's a stone prone to rolling, clearly. She can't wait to hear more on this one.

    But that has to wait! Cause Gwen is here! Asuna turns a bright smile her way. And yes, an appraising look. She doesn't have that skill, but really, it's not hard to appreciate Gwen's taste.

    "Wow, Gwen! You are looking amazing! (As always!)"

    The little girl turns to see what everyone is focused on and looks waaaaaaaay up! She whispers in awe, "So tall." Food is, for now, completely forgotten as she stares openly.

Thalia is about to give Dosbox more of a hard time when Gwen walks in. She pauses to look at the very tall Sylph, and smiles, waving her over. Sure, they've only met one time, but she was very nice! "Hi, Miss Gwen!"

She looks back to Dossy then. "Well, you can ask now, I guess. How lucky you are. ... I should get an appointment too, honestly."

Gwen pauses as she catches notice of Thalia.

"Thalia!" She would find a palce to sit and she pauses. "Children...Oh god..." That's a topic she gets from her mother and with it being Morri. One can only guess and then she smiles at the little kid.

"Hello Asuna and thank you! Also whose this?" She'll glance to Dosbox "After here we can handle what you want from me."

She also notes to the child.

"Yes I am, you want to ride on my shoulders later to see what it's like up here?"

Dosbox clears his throat, "Oh! Well, ah, sure. No rush." He pushes his peas around on his plate. He didn't even ORDER peas. "Uh, help yourself to the food. There's plenty to go around?"

"Add me to the list if there's space, Miss Gwen! I know I'm super cute already, but from what I hear, you could send me to the stars." Thalia grins. It's hard to tell how much she is exaggerating. Or if she is at all. She does like to look cute and/or hot, though!

"The food isn't bad. It's not Asuna's cooking, but it has flavor."

    "This is Taka," explains Asuna. She may not inspect as that name, but... it is complicated. She finds the child topic to be an amusing place for the conversation to wind up. "Klein and I are taking care of her." That is enough explanation, hopefully. Details are sad and Taka is doing really well at not being sad today!

    Speaking of which, the little girl's eyes go so wide at the offer from Gwen. She does not immediately answer. There's a look to Asuna. "Can I, Asa? Can I try?"

    Asuna is still sneaking in bites of food here and there. She's hungry! And the table seems invincible to her attempts to deplete it. Presented with this question, Asuna pauses to think. Not because she has any doubts, really, but because that's what she's seen mothers do. You always pause to consider!

    "You can try it," Asuna replies at last. Immediate excitement follows. Gwen said later. So now Taka just has to wait!

    ... Waiting is so hard!

    "The food is pretty good, but I do appreciate the compliment. It's harder when you are working in a place like this, though. You don't have time to focus like I do at home." Asuna is enjoying the food. And learning from it, too. There's always something she picks up from experiencing the art of others.

Gwen will grin "Sure, I have some ideas for you Thalia." She will sit downa nd still kinda towers over people even when she does so. She listen to Asuna ans grins for a moment whe'll try to place an oreder when sher gets a chance.

She sees thekid is excited too good the child should be happy right?

As the night went on, there was merrymaking, lots of food eaten, and more than a few cheers as the group enjoyed their night out. It seemed like the night would last forever, but there is only one thing that can end a party, more certain than death...

BEDTIME.